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Old 05-23-2013, 12:06 PM   #18
The Telenator
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Oud West, NL
Posts: 2,335
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From the start this has been about a lot more than good tracking. The software approach JamOrigin is taking has required a successful big jump over one hurdle after the other. It's almost completely new territory. The software has no granddaddy earlier software whose footsteps it can follow. It can't 'learn' from the successes of any earlier polyphonic audio-to-MIDI software. Since the WIDI plugin is under copyright and the maker isn't offering up the source code, MidiGuitar can't draw from WIDI.

And there is no room for cheating either. As much as the GR-1 did track well and was first to introduce the more trimmed down 13-pin cable, they cheated in the design of that edition. Sounds were installed directly into the unit's main board, which gave the illusion of much faster load times to grab the sound you wanted.

That was indeed 20 years ago now and, admittedly, the tracking of that unit was rather good. Currently, however, MidiGuitar is being tweaked to achieve smoother tracking for string bends. Its Beta 0.70 was offered up very recently and I noticed immediately improvement in this area. The chording ability has remained fairly dependable too, as long as you are prepared to modify somewhat your personal playing techniques and habits.

This plugin, as it stands right now, may not be worlds better in tracking than the GR-1 from 20 years back, but the fact that it is an all-software approach must be noted and praised I think. This alone puts it miles ahead of the GR-1. The first one I ever owned was the GR-300 from about '82 or '83. This was the blue floor box with choice of either an Ibanez version of a Strat, which was my choice, or one could purchase a glued-in neck model with humbuckers, more like the usual Gibson approach to guitars. Really the only thing I need to say about it was that the tracking was horrendous no matter how much tweaking and adjusting of the hex pickup. The lowest pitched notes were typically late and often made the sudden glitchy jump of an octave or sometimes even two in pitch, and the highest notes could be early. It was indeed a mine field and no comparison at all to what we have today. Only a couple of 'sweet spots' could be relied on for accurate tracking and playing, and the rest verged on sudden death at all times. I won't bother much with how cheesy the sound generation sections were. I'll just say that it tended to sound like a cheap accordion no matter how set.

The biggest point in bring up my old GR-300 setup here is to point out that from THAT in the mid-'80s to NOW with JamOrigin's plugin efforts the improvements in tracking and reliable usage is stunning! These both are two very different instruments, so even if the difference between 1992 and 2012 isn't that remarkable an advance to your ears and personal playing, the advance from 1982 to today surely is. This advance and the fact of the software approach, I believe, negates all the naysayers who are all too awfully
quick to pan this clever achievement.

Last, I base my further optimism for the software approach largely on the improvements I've seen in the last couple of betas combined with the dev's persistence. The string bending grows a little better, the polyphonic tracking feels more solid with each new beta. If you take a moment to consider the science behind what this plugin is required to do to be a success, you may realise it truly hasn't that much further to go. It is just that those final last steps have become miniscule, meaning that there are many more of them now despite their small size.

Last edited by The Telenator; 05-23-2013 at 12:19 PM.
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